What are mycotoxins?

What are mycotoxins?

Mycotoxins are poisonous toxins that are produced by different strains of fungus or mold.

They are released by the fungus as a survival technique and can make humans and animals sick. Mold spores can enter your body through digestion, inhalation or absorption by your skin.

There are over 1,000 classified mycotoxins and all of them can cause harm to your body. They slowly poison your body, impacting any body system and causing a multitude of symptoms including inhibiting protein synthesis, DNA and killing cells. They cause the erosion of the myelin sheath, with causing neurological brain impairment symptoms such as seizures and memory issues. They also suppress your immune system allowing bacterial and viral infections and lowers white blood cell counts.

Mycotoxins have a higher toxicity than nerve gas and has been used as biological weapons in the past. Russia had attacked Southeast Asia in 1975-1981 with trichothecene toxin (T-2), a mycotoxin produced by black mold. It was called “yellow rain” and thousands of Laos citizens died.

Black mold is toxic to other types of mold. Given time it will kill off the other molds, taking over it’s environment.

Another mycotoxin that is more common is aflatoxin, which comes from the mold species of Apergillus. Aflatoxin is found on common crops including corn, wheat, peanuts and a multitude of other food crops. The United States Food and Drug Administration (USDA) monitors the levels of aflatoxin in consumer foods.

Aflatoxin causes stunted development in children, liver damage, cirrhosis of the liver and is one of the most carcinogenic substance known, meaning it can cause cancer, particularly to the liver.

Our local grain elevator General Manager explained how grain elevators are required to check for aflatoxins in grain. He stated the toxins are more predominate during drought conditions due to stress on the plants.

When grain comes into the elevators with higher than accepted levels of toxins, the elevators must reject the grain due to safety precautions. Grain that is used for cattle consumption can not be higher than 300 parts per billion while grain used for human consumption can not exceed 20 parts per billion. A list of accepted levels can be found on the USDA website.

Semi’s hold thousands of bushels of grain. Farmers who bring grain that tested above the accepted levels of toxins are simply told to drive around the block and come back. Often times one grain sample in a truck will be high in toxins and another sample in the same truck will test clean, making it hard to control the levels of toxins in food.

Our local elevators that accept grain for animals, do not test their trucks, stating they test about one truck per quarter. Our local elevator that accepts grain for human consumption does test every load but it is impossible to test every bushel of grain, making it impossible to know the exact levels of toxins within the grain and whether or not they exceed the accepted amount.

According to the USDA approximately 25 percent of the world’s food crops are affected by mycotoxins. Organic grains can contain high numbers of mycotoxins due to no antifungals being used during the growth cycle.

No one is immune to mycotoxins. Some people have a higher tolerance and are able to withstand higher doses of the mycotoxins before becoming sick. Your level of reaction also depends on your bodies ability to flush the toxins out of your system.

Pigs are especially susceptible to the toxins. It is estimated the number of still born piglets have increased from 6.6 percent to 15.5 percent due to the ingestion of mycotoxins. (mold-toxins.com) The industry has seen increased levels of miscarriages and lower levels of fertility. Symptoms that have also effected the human population.

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Reference sites:

http://www.mold-toxins.com/

http://www.michaellebowitzdc.com/html/Mycotoxinspaperforwebsite.htm

http://agriculture.mo.gov/plants/feed/aflatoxin.php